Tournament Strategy
Any experienced online poker player will tell you: tournaments are where the money is. STTs (Single Table Tournaments) are great for bankroll-building, MTTs (Multi-table Tournaments) are where the big money is. The focus of this article is not to elaborate on why tourneys provide players bettor odds, so I’m not going to go into that now. Let's see instead what sort of strategy approach you should adopt to maximize your chances.
Whether you play in a STT, a high-prize-pool Guaranteed tournament or a freeroll, there are some strategy elements that remain the same all-through. In the beginning of a tourney you should always adopt a very conservative tight-aggressive stance. That means you should only act on premium starting hands only, and you should be extremely cautious about committing a big percentage of your stack early on. In freerolls, lots of people begin play with a double-up or bust attitude. That means there will be a lot of schooling and starting hand values will be destroyed by it. This is not the only reason why you should be tight though. In high buy-in MTTs, there's little such headless schooling, yet the right thing to do is still to tighten up. The size of the blinds compared to that of the pot involved is extremely small. That means your pot odds will simply not justify a call on anything but the absolute best starting hands. As play progresses and the blinds get bigger and bigger in relation to pot-sizes, your pot odds will continue to improve, justifying calls on hands other than the no-brainers you called (or raised) on in the beginning.
As play progresses, do-or-die loose-cannons soon manage to beat themselves and a more normal atmosphere settles. Always keep an eye on the size of your stack during this stage. If you have more than 20 BB+SBs in it, you can afford to stick to good-old tight aggressive strategy and win pots while protecting your stack (and your tournament life). As your stack-size falls below 20 BB+SBs, you'll be forced to do something. Under such circumstances, you just need to steal blinds. Assuming that you’ve made it deep enough into the tourney, the blinds will probably provide a pretty consistent stream of revenue to keep your stack afloat. This is the most delicate stage of a tourney in my opinion, because blinds-stealing is a move that can backfire any second. You have to be prepared to live on the edge to pull this one off, because even though they’ll keep you afloat, these blinds won't actually take you off the edge.
As your stack falls below 10 BB+SBs, your strategic options begin to narrow down. You won't be able to bluff, the ability that may have kept you alive so far (blinds sealing) will also suffer a blow. You'll have to look for a good starting hand and shove all-in to double up to get out of the predicament.
As your stack nears bankruptcy (it will only be able to pay up to 5 BB+SBs), your options narrow further. Sorry to say, but from here on you need luck to bounce back into the flow. An all-in is your only option, make no mistake about that.
If you manage to avoid elimination, and approach the bubble, you'll be nearing another critical point in the tourney. People tighten up right before the bubble bursts, because there's nothing more frustrating than becoming a bubble-boy. Most of those who ride on reasonable stacks will attempt to protect them and take them right into the money. This creates unique opportunities for savvy players. This is where it becomes imperative that you adopt the mentality of a fox instead of that of a farmer. Attack the tight farmers and make them pay for their 'free' ride into the money with cold-hard chips. Watch out for those who will attempt to keep you honest though.
Once in the money, play will loosen back up, take that into account. You need to continue playing like a fox from there on too, because you primary objective is to finish as high up the leaderboard as possible.
The final table features some truly dangerous and apparently mindless rush. The blinds being huge, the pot odds will justify just about any call. The luck factor will come in huge here.
Make it a part of your tournament strategy to sign up for a
rakeback deal. Rake rebate will give you a nice return on the tournament fees you pay.
Tournament Play Strategy : Poker Player
